


Mass Effiction

by veggiewolf



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-28
Updated: 2016-06-17
Packaged: 2018-04-17 16:43:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4673987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/veggiewolf/pseuds/veggiewolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Short stories with (mostly) original characters set in the universe we all know and love.  And if we don't know it and love it, we need to drop whatever we are doing and play the games.  Seriously.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Emotionally Explicit Elcor

The club was _so_ not her scene, and she sat at the table, alone, and wondered why she let her colleague talk her into coming. Sure, she agreed she needed to get out more - her position at the lab was all-consuming, and there had to be more to life than work, sleep, the occasional meal with her workgroup and, of course, the migration.  But, she felt completely out of her element here - the lowered lighting made it difficult to see, the music playing in the background had just enough bass that she could feel it thumping inside her torso, and it smelt like a brothel on Illium.  Why, _why_ wasn't she at home with a glass of wine and a travelogue about river rafting?

She looked toward the dais, where a blue figure swathed in filmy rose-colored garments approached the mic.  "Hi everyone!  I'm so delighted to have this large of a turnout!"  The asari beamed around the room as if she'd been lit from within.  "My name is Suditha, and I'm the organizer of tonight's festivities.  Now, before I explain how this will work, does everyone have a drink?"  Murmurs from the crowd were encouraging, and Suditha continued, "Excellent!  I have to say, I've been doing these events across the galaxy since The Consort said I was ready to strike out on my own, and never have I seen such an amazing crowd of people.  I'm so excited for all of you!"

She snorted under her breath.  Asari were always so bubbly; she wouldn't be surprised if Suditha used the same tone of voice to announce an imminent asteroid strike and her "excitement" at the evacuation plan.  Still, the fact that she'd graduated, so to speak, from working for The Consort was encouraging. 

"In a moment, I'm going to ring the bell, and your dates will come in.  They'll spend five minutes with you, and then I'll ring the bell again and they'll move on to the next person.  You can see, from the forms on each table, that you'll be meeting twelve people tonight, and we'd like you to discreetly rate each date using the provided scale.  Then, when the event is over, I and my team will tabulate the ratings and we'll send you your personalized results in 24-48 hours."  Suditha paused for a moment, looking around to see if there were any questions.  "Remember - this event is first names only and _super_ casual - no commitments needed, and no code exchanges."

 _Well_ , she thought, _that's interesting_.  _I won't be locked in if things go awry._   She took a sip from the complicated cocktail she'd been handed when she sat down, and it was better than she expected.  _Maybe this won't be that bad._   She arranged herself into a welcoming posture and adjusted her pheromone output slightly just as Suditha rang the bell and her first "date" walked toward the table and sat down.

She looked at him, keeping her posture welcoming although her first instinct was to withdraw.  He was tall, and broad shouldered, and she could see scarring along his flanks where the club's lighting glanced off his skin, but his scent was musty and the way he shifted his shoulders told her he wasn't really interested in getting to know her better.

"Confidently, hey there, sweet thing."  She _just_ managed to keep from shuddering.  While clarification of phrasing wasn't necessary, this event deliberately catered to those who worked for interstellar corporations where the employees were used to dealing with other species, and so lapsing into this conversational pattern wasn't unusual.  "Confidently, my name is Torlen.  Semi-curiously, what's yours?"

"Pleasantly, my name is Benae.  Politely, what do you do for a living, Torlen?"

"Confidently, you don't want to hear about my work.  Confidently, you want to hear about all the things I can do to that sweet body of yours.  Over-confidently, I've never left a woman wanting."

"Rejectingly, I don't think so."  Her sub-vocalization was definitive, and she shifted into a posture that would have made a thresher maw back off.  Torlen withdrew, and they sat silently until the bell rang and he left her table.  She marked the form in front of her, and took another sip of the complicated cocktail.

Someone approached the table, and Benae looked up. 

"Hesitantly, may I sit down?" 

Benae quickly adjusted her posture.  "Welcoming, of course.  Please.  Sit."

The other did so.  "Hesitantly, I'm Arnor.  Hesitantly, would you tell me your name?"

Benae did so.  "Curiously, have you ever been to an event like this, Arnor?"

"Anxiously, yes.  It did not go well."

"Surprised, why not?"  She raised her shoulders half an inch and cocked her head to show encouragement and interest.  Arnor was a good looking man, despite his obvious discomfort, and she found herself wanting to get to know him better.

And then...out it poured like a flood.

"Anxiously, well my mother thought I needed to meet a nice girl, so I..."  
"Worriedly, when my cravat got caught in the door frame, I knew...  
"Self-consciously, so I told her I couldn't drink alcohol because it makes me phlegmy...  
"Whining, and _everyone_ knows what happens when..."  
"Matter-of-factly, so my therapist told me to..."

The bell rang.  Arnor got up and looked at Benae; she looked away.  He walked to the next table, and she sighed.  _Why am I here, again?_   Picking up the cocktail again, she tipped it back for a long swallow.

The next twenty minutes were just as horrible:

"Winningly, your legs must be tired, 'cause you've been running through my mind all night."

PING!

"Cockily, did it hurt?"

"Confused, did what hurt?"

"Cockily, when you fell from the stars?"

PING!

"Smarmily, if I said you had a beautiful body...would you hold it against me?"

PING!

"Sincerely, have you accepted the Enkindlers as your personal saviors?"

PING!

A server brought her another drink without asking.  "Gratefully, thank you so much.  I really need one."  The server smiled and walked away, and Benae took a sip.  _Still complicated_ , she thought, _but the cold and the strength_ _make up for it._

Suditha was at the mic again, and Benae watched her work the crowd.  "All right!  We're at the halfway point.  Are we having fun?"  The crowd was slow to respond.  "I said, are we having fun?"  Suditha looked so expectant that everyone in the room couldn't help but cheer, and Benae was impressed.  It took a lot of work to get a group response from her people, but obviously Suditha had the experience to pull it off.

"Okay!  Everyone take a few minutes to stretch and move around, get another drink, take a bio-break.  We'll start the second half in fifteen minutes and, in the meantime, I'll be walking around the room if you have questions or feedback."

Benae finished her drink and was debating whether to get another or stick to water when Suditha approached.  "Hi there!  How's it going?"  She cocked her head at the available seat.

"Warmly, please, sit down. Inquiringly, could I order you something to drink?"

"No, but thank you."  Suditha dabbed at a line of perspiration on her upper lip with what looked like a handkerchief.  "When I'm running an event like this, I don't indulge until after it is over.  Need to keep my wits about me, you know!"

"Understanding, of course."  Benae pushed a water glass across the table.  "Encouragingly, please, take it.  The server just brought it over and I haven't touched it yet."

Suditha smiled her thanks and thirstily drank from the glass.  After a moment, she set it down on the table and said, "so, how are you doing so far?"

"Hesitatingly, well..." Benae paused, uncertain how to respond, and Suditha smiled knowingly.

"Haven't found a match yet?  Don't worry - people usually do better in the second half of the event.  It's like everyone loosens up a bit and realizes it is all in fun, you know?"

"Honestly, I don't know.  Sincerely, if I hadn't let a colleague talk me into coming tonight, I'd be at home with a vid.  Plainly, I don't quite know what to do with myself here, and the first group of people were...well..."

"Awful?"  Suditha laughed at Benae's posture change.  "I'm not offended, seriously!  After all, I organize the events and run them, and I and my team analyze the results, but anyone who is interested can attend.  We don't stack the deck one way or another, which means we get a _huge_ variety of personalities at these things."  She took another sip from the water glass.  "I love the feedback, all of it, because it helps me make each one a little better and also gives me an idea of what people actually _want_."

"Interestedly, really?  Matter-of-factly, I figured you were looking for certain types of people, which is why I was starting to get confused..."

"Not at all!  Without a variety of people attending, these events are too predictable.  Which reminds me, I need to get back up there.  Thanks for the chat!"  Suditha walked back to the mic and Benae shook her head in amazement and delight.  _I've never had a conversation quite like that._

Suditha was right; within a minute after the bell rang to start the second half, Benae was engrossed in a conversation with a very interesting bioethicist.

"Passionately, it is the patient who suffers when steps aren't taken to properly follow the regulations.  This is why we must hold doctors accountable."

"Frankly, I couldn't agree with you more.  Cautiously, though, we need to make sure that they are properly trained and aware of the regulatory requirements before censure."

"Definitely.  Surprised, Benae, I didn't expect to meet someone as intelligent and engaging at an event like this.  Courteously, if our results indicate we are matched, would you be interested in having dinner sometime?"

"Pleased, yes, Farven.  Delightedly, I would like that very much."

PING!

"Pleasantly surprised, I enjoyed meeting you.  Courteously, have an enjoyable evening."

Benae watched him walk away, and happily noted her thoughts on the form.  _Even if that's the only good one, this was worth it_.

Her next two "dates" were mediocre, but she found something to discuss in each case.  Number Eight turned out to be related to her cousin-by-marriage, and they spent their allotted time trying to figure out if they'd been at any of the same family functions.  It turned out that they'd been in the same migration group four years prior and, when the bell sounded, they parted with reminders to look each other up before the next one.  Number Nine was a dock worker who'd just returned from a stint at the Citadel and, while not someone Benae could see dating, he had a funny story or two that kept her mildly entertained until their time was up.

And then, Number Ten.  Number Ten was _very_ different from anything she'd expected.  For one thing, he immediately asked if he could get her anything, a drink from the bar, a glass of water if she wasn't up for alcohol, or something to nibble.  He was attentive and complimentary, and Benae couldn't help but feel a bit cherished. 

Still, there was no getting around the fact that he was a vorcha.

"You are exquisite.  I look for someone like you for my whole life!"

"Surprised, really?  I...confused, I didn't know that someone like you would be interested in an elcor..."

"Vorcha females too scrawny, too bony.  And stupid!  You are intelligent, and lusciously curvy.  I want to carry you home.  I will love you, and stroke you, and feed you.  And make babies!"

Fortunately, the bell rang before she could respond.  She heard him approach the next table: "You are exquisite!  I look for someone like you for my whole life!"

Number Eleven came to the table and sat down.  Before she could say anything, he announced, "Plainly, I am only here because my brother thinks I should stop mourning the death of my mate. Plainly, he thinks he can tell me how long I should grieve.  Sadly, things are still too raw for me to think about anyone but her."

"Comfortingly, is there anything that I can do that would help?  Sympathetically, would you prefer to talk or stay silent?"

"Thankfully, I would prefer to stay silent, but I thank you for asking."  So, they sat companionably but quietly until the round ended and he walked away.  Benae watched him go and her heart went out to him - it was so difficult to refuse family in their culture, and she could empathize with his difficulties.  If his brother were there, she'd be tempted to thump him over the head with something heavy.

A few minutes passed before she realized that Number Twelve hadn't materialized.  She looked up and realized that Number Twelve was still at the previous table, oblivious to the fact that he was holding up the workings.  Suditha, she saw, was on her way over to jolly things along, but just when he was allowing himself to be moved on, Benae decided she'd had enough.  Accordingly, she pulled her body into a position that registered extreme boredom and dampened her scent down 'til it was quite obvious to everyone that she had no interest.  Suditha picked up on it at once, to Benae's surprise, and expertly steered Number Twelve toward the door with reassurances.

She returned without him, and sat down with Benae.  "Sorry about that.  I should've caught him sooner."

"Understandingly, it's fine, Suditha.  Frankly, by the time I realized what was happening, I decided I didn't want to talk to him anyway."

Suditha laughed, and it sounded like temple bells.  "I could tell!  I can't get over how expressive you elcor are, and I've been studying your culture for hundreds of years now."

Benae was so shocked that she dropped her descriptors.  "You're a student of elcor culture?  How?  Why?"

"Well, I did a doctorate in cultural studies at the University of Serrice back on Thessia.  During my doctoral program I visited Dekuuna and became _fascinated_ with your history and culture, and wanted to learn more.  Then, when I went to work for The Consort, I requested that I specialize in attending to our elcor clientele."  She smiled at the thought. "I grew to love not only my clients, but what made them who they were.  I even started timing my holidays to coincide with the migration."

"I...I'm shocked.  So many of the other species don't even try to understand us."  Benae was getting flustered and, to try and hide it, started fiddling with the form on the table.  "Is that why...I mean, did you...is that...?"

"That's the reason I started running these events, yes.  I could see where your traditions actually hindered those who live and work outside of the elcor community.  The traditional courtship process for your people really only works on Dekuuna or one of your older colonies - the rituals don't adapt well to other environs.  And so, I thought it might be worthwhile to bring elcor together who were _not_ on the homeworld, those who return for the migration each year but otherwise live their lives in the larger galaxy."

"This is amazing.  You...you are amazing.  I've never met anyone like you before, and to think I almost didn't come to your event at all."  Benae, almost without meaning to, leaned forward, lips pursed and opened her pores.  The air suddenly smelled of rain and moisture, and heavy flowers, and Suditha reached across the table and touched the side of her face.

"I have to go back and close the event," she said.  "But, I am so enjoying being with you.  Would you stay until I'm finished?  We could go for dinner, or something."

Benae smiled, and then looked down.  "Obviously, Suditha, I'd like that."


	4. Night Winds

She was stained, not just by Antha's blood covering her as she sat on the floor and screamed, but by the fact that she was obviously vacillating between shock and delight when they found her.  

The medics were gentle as they wrapped her in a blanket and guided her into the ambulance, and the nurses and doctors were gentle as they tended to her, treating her as if she were something more fragile than flesh and blood. Even her parents, obviously horrified and already grieving the change in their daughter, were gentle; they caressed her, and held her when she panicked, and made endless promises of love "...no matter what, dearling. We love you, no matter what."

But when they went into the hallway, she could hear them speaking, softly:

"This has never happened in _my_ family..."  
"Are you trying to blame this on me?"  
"No, but it had to come from somewhere, and I checked my ancestral records. There's nothing there."  
"Our daughter is _traumatized_ and all you can think about is who is at fault? I can't believe what I'm hearing!"  
"I would never say these things to her, and you know that. I..."

The fact that she could hear them through the wall when she shouldn't have heard anything at all escaped her completely as she heard her parents arguing. She felt an emptiness growing in her chest, as if the words she wasn't meant to hear had reached in and scooped her insides out.  A shell; she was nothing but a shell, and she lay down to feign sleep before they came back so she wouldn't have to see their faces.

**************

After a week, someone she did not know came to see her.  The visitor wore her power and status like a cloak - her garments, posture, and the deference paid by the medical staff made it clear that she was someone important, and that she was not another doctor come to examine her.  She rolled to face the wall, not caring about anything but hiding within her own mind.

"Hello," said the visitor.  The voice was soothing, like cooling gel on a burn.  "How are you feeling?"

She stared at the wall, not answering.  How could she?  Tears began to well up in her eyes and the roar in her ears signaled the arrival of yet another headache that analgesics wouldn’t touch.

A chair scraped against the floor, and she heard the rustling of her visitor’s skirts.  "My name is Gallae, and I’ve come all the way from the Mesana cluster to speak with you."  When she didn’t respond, Gallae continued, “It seems you’ve had quite the time over the last week.”

She almost snorted at the understatement, but tried to keep herself from visibly reacting in the hope that Gallae would tire being ignored and leave.  She held her body still, and was pleased to get away with only a minor muscle twitch in her neck.

Gallae noticed.  She always noticed things like that.  "Thalonika," she began, and was pleased to see a small reaction to the use of her name, "it's not unusual, in these circumstances, for the mind to race with unasked questions.  It's also not unusual for numbness to set in, or anger, or an endless stream of emotions that fluctuate moment to moment."  Gallae paused for a moment, then continued, "It might be of help to know your reaction is not out of the ordinary."

Thalonika rolled away from the wall to face Gallae.  "Ordinary?"  Her voice cracked, and she said it again, louder.  "Ordinary???  What in all the galaxy is _ordinary_ about any of this?"  She glared, and Gallae noted her dilated pupils, her quivering nostrils, and the way she parted her lips to breathe.  Even in this distressed state, or possibly _because_ of this distressed state, Thalonika’s body was trying to gather all the information it could.  _Fascinating,_ Gallae thought.  _Absolutely fascinating._

Rather than respond, Gallae stood and crossed the room to a counter where a pitcher of water stood alongside a glass.  She poured, then brought the glass to a table alongside the bed and set it down.  Without seeming to hurry, she moved back to her chair and sat before the Thalonika realized Gallae had come within arms reach.  "Taking a drink might help.  And, to answer your question, nothing in life is truly ordinary and, yet, everything can seem ordinary when experienced enough times."

Thalonika took the glass and sipped, her eyes fixed on Gallae's face.  "What do you mean?"

"I mean that I've been in over a hundred individual rooms, speaking to other young women like you and, to me, it now feels ordinary.  Routine, almost."  Gallae stood and began to walk back and forth, maintaining eye contact until Thalonika looked away.  "I suppose that’s because I am well-suited for what I do.  Still," she continued, "that doesn't mean it is ordinary to you.  Nor should it be, I think.  I apologize if I seem...callous."

Thalonika sipped again from the glass, and noticed a curious sensation as the water passed into her throat.  She felt as if she could trace the path of each individual droplet from the moment it entered her mouth until it reached her stomach.  Momentarily transfixed by the sensation, it took a minute or two to notice that Gallae was watching her closely. "I...don't really know how to feel right now," she said, simply.

"Will you speak with me?"  Gallae leaned forward slightly, and opened her arms a bit away from her body in a practiced movement designed to inspire trust.  "Will you let me speak with you?"

Thalonika nodded, and Gallae stood and crossed the room again, this time to the door.  Opening it, she spoke briefly with one of the nurses, and then closed it firmly.  "The nurse has agreed to give us privacy for this discussion, and has disrupted the audio/video sensors in the room.  She also asked that I remind you that pressing the call button will summon her if you need anything."  Her eyes crinkled at the corners with amusement.

"That's very...kind of her.” Thalonika shook her head suddenly, as if trying to wake herself from a dream.  "They've all been very kind to me here."

Gallae nodded.  "They have, yes.  It's a benefit, I believe, of being in one of the larger cities in Kendra; they have the training and experience to understand what happened and to allow for an adjustment period.  Unfortunately, the same doesn't happen in other places." 

Thalonika watched Gallae seat herself again, then asked, "What _did_ happen?”

"I will answer any questions you have," responded Gallae, “on the condition you try to listen and understand.  I will tell you the what, and the how, and the why, and I will try to be both gentle and precise."  She took a deep breath.  "Your friend...Antha?"  At a nod, she continued, "Antha suffered a hemorrhagic stroke, which is to say that blood vessels in and around her brain suddenly burst.”

Thalonika stared at Gallae.  “A stroke?  But, Antha was only forty – that’s far too young for a stroke.”  

“Under normal circumstances, I would agree with you.  But, in this case…”  Gallae paused, clearly looking for the right words to use.  “…in this case, interacting with you triggered her stroke.”

“I don’t understand.”  Thalonika rolled the glass of water back and forth between her palms.  “How could _I_ have triggered her to have a stroke?”

“It’s not your fault.”  Gallae looked as if she were about to stand for a moment, then settled back into the chair.  “Please believe me when I say this: it is not your fault that Antha had a stroke.  There’s no way you could have known it would happen, and the only way to have prevented it would have been not to mate with her.”

“How do you know that’s what we were doing?”  Embarrassment and something Gallae couldn’t quite identify tinted Thalonika’s skin to a delicate lavender hue.  “Was someone _following_ us?  _Spying_ on us?”

“No.  No one followed you, and no one was watching.  But that you and Antha joined together is evident from the aftermath.”  Gallae was firm in her statements, and Thalonika found herself believing what she heard, though she wasn’t sure how it was possible.

“You’re saying…you’re saying that _I_ hurt Antha.  That all that blood...that she bled in my arms because _I_ hurt her.” 

“Yes.”

“But, I didn’t mean to hurt her!  I love her!”  Thalonika leapt from the bed and began to pace the room.  Back and forth, back and forth she walked, and Gallae tracked her movements closely. 

“Thalonika, I know you didn’t mean it.  As I said, you couldn’t have known this would happen and it is not your fault.” 

“How?  _How_ did I do this?”  There was an undertone in Thalonika’s voice, as if a great bell has been struck in the distance.  “Gallae, _how did this happen?_ ”

“You were born with an uncommon, but not unheard-of, genetic anomaly.  It gives you a number of strengths, including a particularly powerful nervous system, one that can overpower others.  When you melded with Antha, you thrust so much power into her that all of her nerves fired at once.  That is what caused her stroke.”  Gallae looked as if she wanted to say something else, but she stopped and waited for a response.

“A genetic anomaly?  That’s not possible.  My parents would have told me.”

“They wouldn’t have known about this one until it manifested.”  Gallae stood then, and moved across the room from where Thalonika was pacing.  Looking toward the far wall, she continued, “There are no tests for it or, at least, none that we’ve managed to figure out in millennia of investigation.  We only know that it activates with maturity, and it results in a situation like this.”  She turned, and her eyes were wet.  “I wish with all my heart, as do my colleagues, that there were some way to identify it before lives were lost.”

“Before…?”  Thalonika realized what Gallae was saying, or _not_ saying.  “Where is Antha?  Is she all right?  I have to tell her…I have to tell her I didn’t mean it.”  She clenched her fists so hard that her fingernails dug holes in her skin.

“Thalonika, the number of vessels involved meant not only that she suffered brain damage, but that the bleeding could not be stopped.  By the time they reached the hospital, it was too late."

A thousand thoughts seemed to race through her mind; she felt like she was choking. "Antha is...dead?" Her voice sounded like gravel being crushed underfoot.

Gallae nodded. "Yes.  She is gone."

"But...but...she can't be _dead_!" Thalonika’s voice began rising in pitch. "I _love_ her!  But, I _killed_ her.  Oh, Goddess, oh…!"  She let out a shriek, and both the glass in her hand and the pitcher on the counter shattered.  Two mirrors broke, and shards of glass flew across the room like a hailstorm.  Even the one window in the room vibrated so hard that its surface rippled.

In the shower of glass Gallae stood, _barrier_ up, poised to move toward or away from the distraught girl as needed.  "Thalonika.  Thalonika, hear me.  In your current state, you could do yourself an injury."  She kept her voice gentle and level while projecting enough to be heard.  "Thalonika, you must bring yourself back from the edge."

Without knowing how, or why, she did as Gallae asked - eyes closed, pulse thudding in her throat, she tried to gain control of her emotional torrent.  _Breathe in...and out...Breathe in...and out..._   When she managed to slow her breaths to a three-count and the rush of blood in her ears faded to a whisper, Thalonika opened her eyes again.  There stood Gallae across the room, a circle on the floor around her completely free of glass.

"You used a barrier."  Thalonika was noticeably calmer after the breathing exercises.

"Yes."

"How did you know you would need one?"

"I hoped I wouldn't."  Gallae came back to the chairs and sat, smoothing her skirts.  "But I never come into situations like these without being prepared.  Even so, you nearly caught me there, and my reflexes have been honed over centuries.” 

Thalonika sat also, but on the side of the bed farthest from Gallae.  After a moment, she asked, “Gallae…why did you come here?”

“Why?”  Gallae smiled.  “My dear girl, calling my organization is protocol across Asari space when someone like you is identified.  Even the best medical staff, like the ones here, aren’t equipped for that sort of thing and, in most instances, we’re dealing with fear and ignorance.  I, and my colleagues, have the expertise to instruct and to help you make an…informed decision about your future, under the direction of the law.”

“The law?”

“Yes.”  Gallae took a deep breath.  “You see, our history has shown that those with your condition are capable of wreaking havoc across the galaxy unless kept in check through supervision…”

Thalonika interrupted, suddenly.  “Gallae, I just realized you keep saying “those with your condition” and “someone like you”.  Doesn’t this…genetic anomaly have a name, especially if there are historic records?”

“It does, yes.”  There was a pause.  “The name used is _Ardat-Yakshi_.”


End file.
